SCMPCR E-learning Program (ELP-08): Radiation Dosimetry: External Beam Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy
Learning objectives of the program
This is a course with series of lectures where the participants will go through step-by-step demonstration of various Dosimetry techniques in radiotherapy. Although modern radiation therapy is a group effort of physicians, Medical Physicists, Technician and Nurses. This course aims at Medical Physicists only. In this way we will be able to give an overview of the steps in modern radiation therapy dosimetry with highly experienced and qualified experts for Medical Physicists specific tools and skills. The complete course will include 8 lectures by 8 speakers and a group discussion session with all the speakers will be held.
The learning objectives of the e-learning program are:
Learning Outcomes:
- Understanding Dosimetry Principles: Participants will gain a solid understanding of the fundamental principles of radiation dosimetry, including concepts related to dose measurement, calculation, and reporting.
- Ionization Dosimetry Proficiency: Learn the techniques and methods associated with ionization dosimetry, enabling participants to accurately measure and evaluate radiation doses in clinical settings.
- Film Dosimetry Expertise: Gain expertise in the application of film dosimetry, including its advantages, limitations, and practical applications in external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy.
- Model-Based Dose Calculation: Understand the principles and methodologies involved in model-based dose calculation methods, as recommended by Task Group 186, and how to apply them in clinical practice.
- Absolute Dosimetry Competence: Develop the skills and knowledge required for absolute dosimetry, particularly for high-energy photon and electron beams, ensuring accurate and safe radiation delivery.
- In Vivo Dosimetry Mastery: Learn the techniques and importance of in vivo dosimetry in external beam radiotherapy, with an emphasis on patient safety and treatment verification.
- Small Field Dosimetry Proficiency: Gain expertise in dosimetry for small fields, which is essential for modern radiation therapy techniques like intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).
- Brachytherapy Dose Calculation: Understand the formalism and methodologies recommended by Task Group 43 for brachytherapy dose calculation, ensuring accurate and effective treatment planning.
- Ionization Chambers Understanding: Learn the principles, types, construction, and applications of ionization chambers in radiation dosimetry, including their role in quality assurance and calibration.
- Collaborative Skills: Develop the ability to collaborate effectively with peers and experts in the field, fostering a network of professional relationships for knowledge exchange and support.
- Quality Assurance Emphasis: Emphasize the importance of quality assurance in radiation dosimetry, including the implementation of rigorous quality control measures to ensure patient safety.
- Continuing Education Commitment: Demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning and professional development in the field of radiation dosimetry, recognizing the evolving nature of medical physics.
- Examination and Certification: Successfully pass the program’s examination to achieve certification, confirming participants’ competence in radiation dosimetry and their ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained.
These learning objectives aim to provide participants with a structured and comprehensive educational experience, ensuring that they acquire the necessary knowledge and competencies to excel in the field of radiation dosimetry and contribute to the quality of patient care in radiation oncology.
The overall objective of the program is to improve the accuracy of treatment and diagnosis, increase cure rates and minimize side effects.
By the end of this course participants should be able to learn:
- Apply fundamental principles of radiation dosimetry to accurately measure, calculate, and report radiation doses in clinical settings.
- Proficiently use ionization dosimetry techniques and tools to measure and assess radiation doses in various clinical scenarios.
- Effectively utilize film dosimetry, understanding its applications, advantages, and limitations in radiotherapy.
- Implement model-based dose calculation methods as recommended by Task Group 186, ensuring precise treatment planning and delivery.
- Competently perform absolute dosimetry for high-energy photon and electron beams, ensuring safe and accurate radiation therapy.
- Apply in vivo dosimetry techniques to verify and monitor radiation doses during external beam radiotherapy, prioritizing patient safety.
- Demonstrate expertise in small field dosimetry, essential for advanced radiation therapy techniques such as IMRT and SRS.
- Accurately calculate brachytherapy doses using formalism and methodologies recommended by Task Group 43.
- Comprehend the principles, types, construction, and applications of ionization chambers in radiation dosimetry, including quality assurance procedures.
- Collaborate effectively with peers and experts in the field, fostering a network of professional relationships for knowledge exchange and support.
- Prioritize and implement rigorous quality assurance measures in radiation dosimetry to ensure patient safety and treatment efficacy.
- Demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning and ongoing professional development in the dynamic field of medical physics and radiation dosimetry.
- Successfully pass the program’s examination to attain certification, confirming participants’ competence in radiation dosimetry.
Programme content and structure
Online Lecture and presentation: 8 hr
15 minutes Q & A session after each lecture:
Group Discussion: 1 hr
Self-Study: 4 days
Examination: 1 Hour
Please see attachment-1 with program contents
Target Audience
The course is also suitable for
- Post Graduate Students of medical physics.
- Medical Physicists early in their career and eager to update their knowledge on physics and technical aspects of Radiotherapy.
- Medical Physicist from Institutes / Hospitals
- Researcher and academicians from medical physics faculty
- Dosimetrists and radiation technologists having a strong interest in the application of physics and technology in radiotherapy.
- PhD students in radiation therapy or physics.
Teaching methodology
- The lectures will be in a familiar format, introduced a specific topic by means of a presentation, with chat box and polling option for interaction with the lecturers by using Zoom Video Conferencing System.
- After the lecture there will be a Q & A session for 15 minutes.
- Study materials related to the lectures will be provided to the participants after each lecture.
- A group discussion session will be held with all the speakers and participants.
- A limited number of participants will be selected to successfully proceed the course.
- At the end of the course there will be an examination to judge the learning outcomes of the participants.
- The examination procedure will be strictly maintained by the organizing committee and the answer script will be evaluated by the speakers.
Supporting information
The South Asia (SA) region, comprising eight diverse countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), is home to approximately 1.891 billion inhabitants, roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Despite this diversity, South Asian countries face significant challenges in developing effective cancer control programs. The safe and efficient utilization of technology in radiotherapy treatments necessitates expert medical physics support. Unfortunately, there is a global shortage of clinically qualified medical physicists, a situation most acute in the South Asia region.
Addressing the Challenge: In response to the growing demand for cancer care, the South Asia Centre for Medical Physics and Cancer Research (SCMPCR) was established in 2018. SCMPCR is dedicated to building a skilled workforce for cancer treatment through various educational programs, fostering national and international collaborations. SCMPCR conducts meetings, seminars, workshops, hands-on training sessions, in-service training, e-learning initiatives, and awareness programs, featuring national and international experts. These efforts aim to benefit both the general population and professionals in the healthcare sector, addressing both communicable and non-communicable diseases, with a particular focus on cancer patients. SCMPCR’s mission aligns with SDG-goal 3 (Good Health & Well-being) and SDG-goal 4 (Quality Education).
Professional Development: SCMPCR regularly organizes accredited hands-on workshops (3-4 per year) and in-service training programs in collaboration with various national and international organizations and hospitals. These programs are tailored for cancer care professionals, including doctors, medical physicists, nurses, and other healthcare providers. Importantly, these programs are accredited by the International Organization of Medical Physics (IOMP) and the European Board for Accreditation in Medical Physics (EBAMP).
E-Learning Initiatives: In response to the increasing importance of digitalizing healthcare, SCMPCR recognizes the potential of e-learning for education and training. Even during challenging times like the Covid-19 pandemic, SCMPCR remains committed to its mission. Notably, SCMPCR has successfully implemented four e-learning programs, all accredited by EBAMP and IOMP.
Upcoming Program – ELP-08: Radiation Dosimetry in External Beam Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy:
In November 2023, SCMPCR will launch its eighth e-learning program, ELP-08, focusing on Radiation Dosimetry in External Beam Radiotherapy and Brachytherapy. This program will consist of a series of lectures, practical demonstrations, group discussions, and examinations. It will run from 3rd November 2023 – 24th November 2023, and will be delivered by experienced experts from developed countries in the field of Radiotherapy.
Evaluation and quality assurance
An evaluation of the program by the speakers and participants will be executed for further improvement of the e-learning program. It is an option for judging the program by the participants and the speakers and used for continuous improvements in the successive programs. Regarding this SCMPCR will provide evaluation form through link to the participants and speakers at the end of the course.
Commercial interest
SCMPCR is happy to announce that, the e-learning program is totally a non-profitable, non-biased, and non-commercial educational program. The e-learning program is only for enhancing the knowledge and competencies of Medical Physicist from the overseas.
Program Schedule
| SI | Topic Name | Date & Time | Speaker | Modartor |
| 1 | Overview of Radiotherapy Dosimetry: Principles and Importanceof Ionization Dosimetry | 3 November (Friday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) | Prof. Dr. Guenther H. Hartmann
Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology, German Cancer Research Center, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany Germany |
Safayet Zaman
Bangladesh/Canada |
| 2 | Gafchromic Dosimetry | 4 November(Saturday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) | Prof. Dr. Pawel Kukolowicz
Medical Physics Department, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland Poland |
Suresh Poudel/ Or others
Nepal |
| 3 | Report of the Task Group 186 on Model Based Dose Calculation Method. | 5 November(Sunday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT | Dr. Frank W. Hensley
Former Medical Physicist Department of Radiation Oncology University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany Germany |
Dr. Akhtar/Simanto |
| 4 | Absolute Dosimetry for High Energy Photon and Electron Beam | 10 November( Friday),
2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) |
Prof. Dr. Golam Abu Zakaria
Professor, Clinical Engineering, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Koethen, Germany Former Chief Medical Physicist and Chairman, Gummersbach University Teaching Hospital, University of Koln, Germany Founder Chairman, South Asia Centre for Medical Physics and Cancer Research (SCMPCR), Dhaka, Bangladesh Germany |
India |
| 5 | In Vivo Dosimetry in External Beam Radiotherapy | 11 November (Saturday),
2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) |
Prof. Mohammad Amin Mosleh-Shirazi, PhD MIPEM CSci
Physics Unit, Radio-oncology Department, Namazi Teaching Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz 71936-13311, Iran Tel: (Office) +98 (0) 71 3612 5316 Telefax (Department): +98 (0) 71 3647 4320 Email: mosleh_amin@hotmail.com & amosleh@sums.ac.ir Iran
|
jeyasugithan@nuclear.cmb.ac.lk or his representative Srilanka |
| 6 | Dosimetry for Small Field | 12 November (Sunday),
2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) |
Phua Jun Hao, MS
Senior Medical Physicist National Cancer Center Singapore |
India |
| 7 | Brachytherapy Dose Calculation Formalism according to Task Group 43 | 17 November ( Friday),
2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) |
Prof. Liyun Chang
Professor and senior medical physicist,Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences Medical Campus, I-Shou University, Taiwan E-mail: cliyun@isu.edu.tw Taiwan |
bushraintakhab@gmail.com
Pakistan |
| 8 | How to select correct chambers for commissioning and absolute dosimetry in radiotherapy department | 18 November (Saturday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) | Dr. Raju Srivastava
Medical Physicist at UZ Gent Belgium
|
Nepal |
| 9 | Group Discussion | 19 November (Sunday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) | All Speakers and Participants | |
|
Self Study(4days) |
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| 10 | Examination | 24 November (Friday), 2:30 PM – 3.30 PM (GMT) | ||
Prof. Dr. Liyun Chang
Professor and senior medical physicist
Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences Medical Campus,
I-Shou University, Taiwan
Dr. Frank W. Hensley
Former Medical Physicist
Department of Radiation Oncology,
University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. Mohammad Amin Mosleh-Shirazi
Head of Radiotherapy Physics Unit
Radio-oncology Department,
Namazi Teaching Hospital,
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences,
Shiraz 71936-13311, Iran
Prof. Dr. Golam Abu Zakaria
Professor, Clinical Engineering
Anhalt University of Applied Sciences,
Koethen, Germany
Prof. Dr. Guenther H. Hartmann
Former Senior-Scientist
Department of Medical Physics in Radiation Oncology,
German Cancer Research Center,
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. Dr. Pawel Kukolowicz
Head of the Department
Medical Physics Department, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland
Dr. Raju Srivastava
Medical Physicist
Department of Radiation therapy, University Hospital Ghent, Gent, Belgium
Medical Physicist
Department of Radiotherapy, Centre Hospitalier de Mouscron Avenue de Fécamp, Mouscron, Belgium